Health Care Reform Update - Senate Activity

• Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) continues to work to combine the Senate Finance Committee and Senate HELP Committee health care reform bills. Reid is waiting to introduce legislation until the CBO has completed its analysis and he has secured the necessary 60 votes required for Senate passage - a more difficult task than he originally envisioned.
• The Senate bill will include a public health insurance option that allows states to opt-out, a compromise that Reid hopes will attract the necessary Senate Democratic moderates to reach 60 votes.
• Senate Democratic leaders hope to release a final merged Senate health care reform bill after Veteran’s Day, which could enable Senate debate to begin the week of November 16. Even if Senate debate begins in two weeks, debate will continue into December because of the reduced November calendar. Because of time constraints and the desire to pass legislation this year, Reid has informed Members that the Senate will likely be in session on Saturdays throughout December. However, the Senate may be unable to pass health care reform legislation this year, which would push the debate into 2010 (an election year).